Run to Win

This week last year was a busy one, with a lot of quality articles on a wide range of topics. News bites were mixed in with training advice, and a good description of toys was mixed in with reader questions.

• The week began with a discussion of a number of different types of toys that runners use when then are training. I covered watches and pedometers to GPS receivers to technical fabrics and water bottles. This article was a continuation of on the Equipment series between Run to Win and Straight to the Bar.
• I posed the question, “When does your week begin?” My week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. It makes it easier to plan my workouts and gives me a better idea about how to interpret my weekly mileage in a more useful manner.
• I offered one of my favorite racing tips, which I coincidentally included in my new book that I am publishing next week. This tip teaches you how to race with courtesy while gaining a competitive advantage over the other runners.
• Wes was getting ready for a new racing distance, and wanted to know how to hydrate for a half-marathon. He has since moved on to running full-length marathons and is actually running tomorrow morning at Walt Disney. Good luck, Wes!
• Is it possible to run under 2 hours in the marathon? This was a question that I was pondering a year ago when Paul Tergat still held the world record. Now that Haile Gebrselassie has run 2:04:26 and may make another run for a new record in Dubai this Friday, the sub-2 hour mark looks like it is becoming more of a reality. I really hope that we get to see it in the next decade or so.
• This week two years ago, I demonstrated how to use a machine that I don’t even plan to bother with again, the leg press sled. I just stick to doing squats these days. Tomorrow is also the 2 year anniversary of the death of Frank Fixaris. He was a Giants fan, so if he can he’ll be looking over them in their game against the Cowboys.
• This week two years ago was also when I had a great run in an unseasonably warm January, which was not unlike what the weather has been like for the past week here. If I can avoid it, though, I’d like to avoid breaking my neck again. Not that I did, but when I first sprained my neck getting out of bed on my birthday, it sure felt and sounded as though I had broken it.

Haile Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon this weekend in a world record time of 2:04:26! He surpassed Paul Tergat‘s time of 2:04:55 from 4 years ago at the same race. With his win, he moves into second place in the world marathon majors for the 2006/2007 scoring year, and is tied for first place in the 2007/2008 standings. The conditions were near perfect, reaching a high in the low 60s at the end of the race and with very little wind.

Gete Wami moved into 1^st place after her win in the women’s race in 2:23:17.

I thought that Gebrselassie was going to break Paul Tergat’s record, but I did not expect to see it until next year or the year after. It turns out that he was able to break the record much earlier than I had given him credit for. While it is not likely, I hope that this record spurs on a series of world record runs in the next couple of years, because I would like to see the record get down below 2 hours. I do not know if anybody will ever be able to do that, but it would be something to see!

(Source: World Marathon Majors)